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So as I've been
mentioning off and on for a while now, I just finished the big move into
new digs. For so many years, I've been in and about apartments,
but I'd finally had enough of that. So me and a few comrades
decided to look for a house that could split the difference between the
commute to Ray's and the commute to Seattle U. As it turned out,
we wound up with a place in Ballard, which is way closer to Ray's than
to Seattle U., but that's just how it played out. Besides, when
you find a 4BD, 2BA, 1600+ square foot house in Seattle for only $1250 a
month, you gotta pounce on that.
The ad said that the
exterior was not indicative of the interior, and after seeing the place
we were sure hoping so. But it was true. The upstairs carpet
and floors were all new, a bathroom had recently been installed
downstairs, new-ish appliances were to be found and nothing seemed in
too much disrepair. Happy happy hooray.
That said, this place
has tons of, um...personality. Little quirks here and there that
remind you this *is* an older house and that it was remodeled by
amateurs. For instance, there's my lair (which we'll get to
later), the downstairs shower that has a foot-wide gap between it and
the wall, the fridge that opens up for no particular reason, the plastic
lattice around the downstairs porch, the copious conduit and ducting in
the downstairs living room. It's nothing that's sheisty or unsafe;
more like conversation starters for when you have friends over.
Little things that border on hip and tacky, kinda like every song Beck
has ever written.
About the only real
disappointment present here is the kitchen. There's hardly any
counter space available, there are a grand total of two outlets for
appliances, no garbage disposal and a bunch of cupboards that aren't
quite big enough for anything, but still manage to take up a majority of
the space. Oh yeah, and there isn't much parking for four blokes,
either. Compounding that is the fact that you can't park on one
side of the street during the morning or the other side of the street
during the afternoon. Yes, Seattle's traffic system sucks.
But what IS awesome is my lair.
Burke calls it the Batcave, for reasons that will become obvious if you
click on any of the pictures over there. The entire downstairs
used to just be a daylight basement, but it was converted to living
spaces at some point. For whatever reason, the owners decided to
pour out about two or three feet away from the foundation walls in the
area that became my room. So you get kind of a nifty little
cave-like effect. It doesn't bother me at all, and actually turned
out pretty awesome since I can stow my bed off of the floor altogether.
More floor space for me! I originally planned to put my drum kit
in here, but decided against it in favour of bringing in the futon frame
from the garage and setting up a couch for visitors or studying.
My room rules. So
what do I think of the surrounding environs? Well, within an
eight-block radius I can: get my hair cut, get my nails done, shop for
computers, do some banking, get my teeth or back fixed, buy a pet, get
some lumber, check out statuary, grocery shop at four different
locations, get keys made, have my oil changed or my car fixed, buy
liquor or eat any of these cuisines: Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican (fast
food and family style), Italian (traditional and pizza), Chinese,
American (bar and family style), Scandinavian, teriyaki (twice), donuts (donuts should be
a cuisine unto themselves, so I say). Our street has pretty much
everything you could want, and it's all within walking distance.
And I'm still only about 20 minutes away from
Uwajimaya, my haven for
all things Japanese.
So how do I feel about the place?
It's pretty sweet! Sure, I've had to fill in some cracks and do
other minor home repair, the street's too busy to have my kitty come
live with me and maybe the backyard isn't big enough for much, but by
and large I couldn't have asked for a better place
Rating: Home Sweet Home out of 10 |
Other pics of
the place
(Click the thumbnail to see a bigger pic) |
